Mustard
by The Directer
Summary: The Signless wasn't the only one who thought it was wrong... (Ancestors' Beforus)
1. Chapter 1

**Warning, it's fast.**

* * *

"What? You think holding your high-blood status over my head is going to make me angry? Like I want it?" I spat the foul thought onto his polished shoes, "I loth you! If I were cursed with your caste I would loth myself! Forcing a red-blood into the dirt like that? For not giving you the food SHE worked hard to get? What if it were you? What if blue were the lowest color? What if -" His manicured hand flew through the air. The crack echoed in the silence. My knees hit the ground. I watched my yellow turn brown with dust.

"What made you think that was wise? Are you stupid as well as pathetic? Or does your mustard sludge not provide enough oxygen?" His cronies' forced laugh only pounded the thought further into my head; this had to stop. This was not how trolls should live. There had to be more. Because if there wasn't... No. There had to be.

* * *

As soon as the red-blood said 'no' I knew there was going to be trouble. There always is with her. Oh, look! a dark alley well away from the circle of onlookers.

I couldn't hear the words from my hiding place, but from the high-blood's expression I would say it wasn't going well. I couldn't hear the words from my hiding place, but the crack came through loud and clear.

That's when I decided to step in. Shouldered my way through the crowd, "Excuse me...pardon me...if you'd step to the side?..."

"Please, your highness, she's delirious. she doesn't know what she's saying."

"Delirious? a likely story!"

"She won't do it again."

"She won't be able to."

"No, she won't. She'll be too busy working in the factories. Now if you'll excuse us highness..."

I hurried her out of the circle before he could make a reply.

* * *

I wiped the blood from my cheek and glared at Xanthous, "Why did you have to jump in like that? I was doing fine."

"Yeah, because 'fine' is on your knees, in the dirt, watching your blood soak into the ground. Don't you remember the last time you got beat up?"

"I'm fine now, aren't I? When will you get that pain is temporary?"

Why didn't he get it? They needed me. I couldn't stop when so many were ground to dust beneath polished heels.

Sure I felt pain. I remember just last week, I was trying not to wince at every step. Trying not to let Xanthous see. He'd only worry. He had enough to worry about.

And besides, my pain was nothing compared to the agony of the low-bloods.

* * *

Carnelia was going to get herself killed! 'pain is temporary'? What if they paralyzed her? blinded her? or cut out her tongue? What then?

She would keep going. She would find new ways to help the low-bloods. She wouldn't care. She wouldn't care that she hurt. She wouldn't care that seeing her hurt, hurt me. She wouldn't care, but I would.

* * *

**Please review, following me would be nice, and follow the story because you're going to want to know what happens next.**


	2. Chapter 2

Scritch...scritch...scritch...The sound echoed slightly off the bricks around her. It was almost the twelfth hour but the moon didn't shine on her, the alley was too narrow for that. She sat on an empty crate bent nearly double over a small pile of rust on her skirt. The knife that she had found was just starting to show. Xanthous sat against the wall opposite her, eyes closed, probably asleep.

* * *

It had been two days since the scuffle, and the city had been quiet.

Yay quiet.

At least she found that knife to keep her busy.

I mean being her moirail is great and everything. It's just so exhausting! To constantly keep her down? It's like trying to catch a jump bug without a net.

But this particular jump bug wants to help people.

By yelling at landmines.

And you happen to be attached to said jump bug and you can't just stand there and watch it die. So you throw water on the landmines, hope they don't explode anyway, and point the jump bug at another one because you can't sneeze without having to bow and grovel and apologize a thousand times for soiling a landmine's freshly laundered robes.

Ok, maybe it would be nice if they didn't treat you like dirt.

Ha! like that's going to happen. You could lose your head just for thinking that!

Much less doing what Carnelia is doing.

She definitely needs a moirail.

I just hope I can last.

* * *

Finding the knife was the best luck I've had in sweeps. With this I might be able to change something! With this they might just listen! Or at least think twice before slapping me.

Maybe I could encourage others to join me?

That would be nice.

There are enough of them to make a perfect circle of spectators, there should be enough to help.

If I wasn't quite so alone.

If Xanthous would do something besides stop me.

If anyone else cared.

If I was a psionic, they'd come. I'd have an assistant for every major crossroads, maybe two for the market, and the people would be able to get their food in peace. The people would be safe. The high-bloods might not be _welcome _but they could still buy things, as long as they were buying the things and not stealing them.

I would be fair.

Unlike 'Her Imperial Condescension'.

* * *

**So...nothing happened. Whoops! Next chapter...**


	3. Chapter 3

**Kind of a short chapter but what else do I say?**

* * *

Heat stroke? We're nocturnal. I was running out of excuses. I couldn't last much longer. Carnelia on the other hand...

* * *

Heat stroke? Really, Xanthous? You get points for creativity, but really?

Maybe I was getting too far ahead. Maybe our moirallegiance was becoming unbalanced.

* * *

I couldn't keep up.

* * *

He was dragging me down.

* * *

I should give up.

* * *

I should move on.

* * *

How can I tell her I'm giving up? She'd think I was week.

* * *

How do I tell him without hurting his feelings? He thinks we're perfect for each other.

* * *

I just need to wait.

* * *

The opportunity will come.

* * *

It came drenched in blood. Blue blood.

Xanthous grabbed Carnelia's arm. Her eyes glaring daggers at the scene before them.

An indigo read the list of names. The burgundies lined up like trained dogs. The cerulean stalked down the line touching three of them with her staff. The three stepped forth. The rest were dismissed. The cerulean sat in her chair. A slow smile curved her lips. The three screamed.

Carnelia wrenched free. Xanthous screamed her name. She didn't even falter. Around the circle, behind the chair, a flash of steel, even a blue blood couldn't survive.

* * *

She stood, waiting for Xanthous to drag her away, to hide her, to calm her. He didn't come.

* * *

He couldn't. She was too strong.

Xanthous turned and ran down the alley way, footsteps echoing off the narrow walls.

* * *

**Now...how to introduce the Signless...**


	4. Chapter 4

This meeting would have been over if he had let me be in charge. Or at least in the room. As it is I'm up on the roof and they're not getting anything done.

I do have a good view of the market place though. I can see stalls selling grub juice, colored cloth, trinkets and jewelry, none of it worth anything. The Condense took most of the good stuff and let the rest trickle through the ranks so the low-bloods got next to nothing.

We want to change that, the Signless and I, and as a psionic, I think we actually stand a chance.

I let my gaze wander toward the shore, not two miles away, and frowned. Looks like a cerulean decided it was market day. I considered interrupting the meeting but we were hardly prepared, and they might just want to buy their things and leave. I watched with a dull fascination as the litter crawled is way to the market. Might as well keep an eye on them.

An indigo pealed away from the courtiers, unrolled a scroll, and began reading names.

Now I was curious. I leaned over the railing and peered at the burgundies lining up. Couldn't the blue blood have gone to a slave market? Why did they need trolls? Why these trolls?

Then she stepped, ever graceful, from her seat, chose three from among them and sent the rest away.

I wanted to run down, put an end to the screams, but something told me, _stay, you want to see how this goes_.

That something was right.

I caught a glint of steel from the crowd. A young troll, couldn't have been more than 9 sweeps*, was walking around behind the blue blood.

Her knife work could stand to be practiced, but here was someone I liked, a troll of action. I had to get her before the authorities did. She'd be no use to us in prison.

* * *

Someone touched me. I whirled around, bloody knife raised, but it wasn't the guards. It was a psionic. I blinked and lowered my weapon.

"Nice work...but I'd run if I were you."

I raised my eyebrow.

"You have less than three seconds before the guards arrest you, and then who will help the low-bloods?"

"Where do I go?"

"You could follow me."

"Where are you going?"

"Time's ticking..."

The worst choice was to stay, so I shrugged and we took off.

* * *

*18 years


	5. Chapter 5

**I will be gone for two weeks and I'm running out of pre-written chapters so, sorry for the cliffhanger!, but there's really nothing I can do.**

**Love you, The Director.**

* * *

I followed him into the hills that surrounded the city, out of sight, and towards a single hive in it's own private glen.

It was a quaint little thing, not too big, not too shabby, but comfortable, lived-in, loved.

My guide stopped and gestured as if presenting a castle, "Welcome to the Center of the Revolution...and our home."

* * *

The only sounds in the room were my knitting needles and the Disciple's occasional yowl as she batted her ball of yarn under the table.

I tried to be inconspicuous, I loved watching her play, and if she remembered I was in the room she'd go back to being human.

It lasted a full hour. Then the door opened and she snapped out of it as the Psionic walked in.

"You're home early. How'd it go?" I asked balling up my knitting and placing it in its basket.

* * *

"I don't know, he wouldn't let me in. Dolorosa, let me just say how kind of you it was to take us in like this."

"What do you want?"

Man, you couldn't get anything past her!

I tried to work my way up to it.

"I was up on the roof waiting for the meeting to get over, just enjoying the view, when I saw this high-blood's ship at the docks-"

She arched her eyebrow as if to say, _get to the point._

"This troll here killed her for torturing burgundies. I offered her refuge." She walked through the door right on cue.

* * *

_Killed a high-blood?_ that's a bit much, but it's a clear sign that she hates the hemospectrum as much as we do. I'm sure I could squeeze another recuperacoon in upstairs.

"What's your name, child?"

"Carnelia."

"Well, Carnelia, I'm sure the Signless will be happy to have you join the team."

Speaking of the Signless...

I glanced at Psi, "Does the Signless know you're here?"

He flicked his eyes to the door and back.

I threw up my hands in exasperation. This troll had no sense of duty. "You'd better go get him then. Let's hope you still can."

He went running back to town, leaving the disciple and me to explain things to Carnelia.

* * *

"Well, the meeting went longer than expected but I think we-"

I glanced around the empty roof top...great.

For a second I was worried that something happened.

Then I remembered. He's a psionic, he's _the_ Psionic. He'll be fine.

Me on the other hand?... One scratch and I can say good-bye to freedom. At least my cloak covers my sign...less-ness.

*sigh*

**How to get home:**

Step 1. Get off the roof.

_Ok._

Step 2. Don't get distracted by whatever that large group is distracted by.

_What _are_ they looking at?_

Step 3. Don't cheer at the death of a high-blood.

_*yay*_

Step 4. Avoid the hundreds of guards as you skirt the edges of the group.

_Hundreds...right._

Step 5. Get to the shadows.

_Oops._

Step 6. Get out of the circle of guards.

_Psi, I need you!_

Step 7. Don't panic.

_PSI!_

Step 8. I said, DON'T panic!

* * *

I can just imagine the high-bloods sitting in their grand meeting hall...

'How many guards can we fit in the market place?' 'I don't know...Let's find out!'

It was going to be impossible to find the Signless.

He'd hate me for thinking that.

If I were the Signless where would I go?

A circle of guards? Away from the body? Oh, boy.

I shouldered my way through, suspicions confirmed, "There you are! The master's been waiting!"

I gently took his shoulders and marched him into a nearby alley before the guards could figure out what happened.

* * *

"Are you ok?"

Psi's red and blue eyes were wide with fear. He probably blamed himself.

"Yes...yes I'm fine. Don't worry." Even I had a hard time believing that.

"I can't believe I- I forgot to- She was just - I didn't want to interrupt your meeting... I'm so sorry!"

"No. It's fine. I'm fine. All's well that ends well. It's not your fault."

I almost smiled at how flustered he got, but that would have been mean.

"It won't happen again, I promise."

"You don't have to promise, it's in the past, it _can't_ happen again."

"But I'll forget, I'll leave again."

"If you leave it will be for good reason. I trust you."

"Maybe you shouldn't..."

"Nonsense! It is physically _impossible_ for you to be untrustworthy. Now, are we going home or not?"

"Yes! yes, I found someone I think you should meet."


	6. Chapter 6

"It started when I found him. A color I had never seen before. He had been pushed to the side, maybe by the mother grub, maybe on accident, I don't know. All I knew was that he wasn't chosen by a lusus and I couldn't let him die."

I sat on the floor holding a string for the Disciple to play with while we listened to the Dolorosa tell her story.

It was really interesting. To learn that I wasn't alone. That others had been fighting for perigees. That someone wasn't even on the spectrum. Several times the Disciple had to remind me, rather painfully, that I was playing with her.

"It was a vary good thing he didn't have a lusus. A lusus would have taught him that the Condesce was in the right, that low-bloods were nothing. That _he_ was nothing." She paused to flip her knitting around,

"I managed to keep him alive long enough to form his own ideas about our world. He was shocked to learn that most everybody went along with it, 'How can they let her do this? Why isn't someone telling them to fight? You don't have to bow to her! She's just a troll!'. He was right of course, but what could he do?

Then he met the Psionic. An extremely gifted troll, forced into the high-bloods service when he was only 4 sweeps old. Already pushed to his exceptional limits, he only needed a word or two and the 'Signless' staged his first rebellion."

The note of pride in her voice was unmistakable. She talked about the rebellion the same way she talked of the Signless' first word, or first steps. Her fear for his safety was understandable, but her love was something I had never seen before. I couldn't even fit it into a quadrant. It made me wish I had been raised by my parents.

* * *

I'll never forget when he walked in the door and said, "Mama! I made a friend! Can he stay the night?" and his friend turned out to be a psionic that worked for the energy firm.

He probably knew it would be longer than a night but didn't want to scare me. He was always so thoughtful.

And when he brought the Disciple home, practically wild as her lusus had died a sweep ago, and asked if we could keep it. I wondered if he knew it was a troll, but when I asked him he said that she wanted to be a paw-beast so she was.

* * *

I didn't want to break the silence so I let my thoughts wonder. No big surprise, they turned toward Xanthous.

Where was he? Why didn't he take me away? Did he think he couldn't control a murderess? Was control all he wanted? Maybe I pushed too hard. Maybe I should have listened. Maybe I should have stopped.

Wait a minute! did I really think my relationship with Xanthous was more important than our...my...our mission? Was it ever ours? Mine and Xanthous' I mean. I knew it was the Signless' and mine, but did Xanthous ever approve? Did he ever actually encourage me? Did he _want_ things to change? Is it possible to _not_?...

* * *

I was more concerned that the string wasn't moving than that everyone was silent. I almost scratched her, but the look in her face told me this would not be a good time. So I contented myself with cleaning my ears.

There was a time when I couldn't do that without my lusus growling and putting a brush in my hand. She was quite determined to make me a troll. Make me follow the rules.

She was a good lusus. I cried when she left. She just didn't know that I was ment to be a paw-beast.

The Signless did. I wonder if he'll ever know how much I love him.

Speaking of the Signless...

* * *

The Disciple drifted to the window, signaling the Signless' imminent arrival. So I put down my knitting needles and went to heat up some supper.

Don't ask me how she knew, she just did. I quickly learned not to question their connection, it only led to long-winded explanations of absolutely nothing. I suspected that even they didn't know the specifics.

* * *

I looked over the Disciple's shoulder at the empty landscape. "Are you sure?"

"Give it a minute."

I did, but still saw nothing.

Then I noticed two minuscule figures emerging from the shadows, one yellow, one grey. I made a mental note of her intuition, it could prove vital.

* * *

I could barely contain myself.

It might look like I had been calmly playing with the Dolorosa's yarn, but that was all nervous energy. I hated when he left me home. I didn't know what he was doing! Anything could happen and I wouldn't know about it until it was too late.

So it was all I could do not to completely lose it when he walked through the door.


	7. Chapter 7

Once the returning ritual was over and we were sitting at the table with the Dolorosa's magnificent grub sauce settling in our protein chutes I turned my chair toward our guest. "So, you must be the troll Psi was talking about. The one who wouldn't stand for normalcy?"

"Normalcy?" She scoffed, "If that's normal, I'm an alien."

I couldn't help but smile.

"You're the alien? How do you think I feel?"

Going off her yellow blush I sensed the need for a change of topic...

"What can you do to help?"

"What _can_ I do? Nothing. I am completely and utterly useless. What _will_ I do? Anything and everything. This will not happen on my planet."

I can see why Psi liked her. Better not send them out on a mission together...they might not come back.

* * *

He was running. Running down an alley way. An echoing alley way. His panting breathes ripped his lungs to shreds.

She looked like she was jogging, calmly, at least twenty feet ahead. Her feet weren't moving but she kept getting smaller. She turned and looked back.

He could feel them behind him, reaching for him. She cocked her head.

"Wait for me." He somehow managed to gasp out.

She smiled, "Don't worry, Xanthous, pain is temporary."

He awoke in a cold sweat.

"It's just a nightmare," He told himself, "She wouldn't abandon anyone. She does't want anyone to get hurt. She wouldn't sacrifice me... Would she?"

He pulled his knees up to his chest, trying to ignore the fact that the alley he chose to hide in looked a lot like the one in his dream.

* * *

I'm not sure what I expected the Signless to be like, but whatever it was it wasn't right.

I walked back across the room, trying to put my finger on it.

Maybe he was too calm, laid-back, or something. I don't know, but the Psionic on the other hand...now that was more like it. Strong, forceful, A born leader.

My chin lifted as I turned on my heel and continued pacing.

And yet it was the Signless leading. This puzzled me. Why didn't the Psionic take charge? It would be so easy to overrule the Signless, he probably wouldn't protest, fight the Condesce for the throne, and change the world.

I paused half-way to the window. With that much power...

You could fix the hemospectrum.

My mind raced with the possibilities.

Arranging it the way it should be.

_Upside-down._

* * *

We walked in silence until we got to the top of our hill. The light from the moon bathing the town below.

"How did your meeting go?"

"It was alright."

"Are we going to have another new member?"

"I don't think so."

Di lifted her head off my shoulder and stared at me.

"Why not?"

"I think the idea of change scared him more then the Condesce. He didn't want to fight her and lose, and he didn't want to have to adapt to a new system."

"But it's clear he's unhappy with the way things are now."

"I know, but all he sees is the difficult transition, not the paradise it would become."

She sighed and curled in closer, letting me wrap my arms around her. Dang, I loved her.

Without her my meeting wouldn't have happened. I would be too ashamed to show my face, much less talk to people.

I'd be nothing. A wisp of Nothing that lost control when it realized it couldn't do anything.

She believed in me.

I wouldn't be alive without her.

I loved her.

I looked down at the now sleeping Disciple and whispered, "I hope you never have to know what I'd do to save you."

Trying not to disturb her, I lifted her to my lap, stood up, and started for home.


	8. Chapter 8

**So I genuinely don't know what to say next. If you want the story to continue submit your entry as a review. Not just ideas, I have plenty of those, but word for word what you think should come next.**

**I tried this with an original about some captive pleading for his life and my sister came up with: **He smiled a little half smile, "You love me too much. You wouldn't do this to your own son."**and it was far too perfect to pass up. So please help. I will credit the winner, and I look forward to seeing what you guys come up with.**


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